Religion As A Captor Essay, Research Paper

A collection of short stories published in 1907, Dubliners, by James Joyce,

revolves around the everyday lives of ordinary citizens in Dublin, Ireland (Freidrich

166). According to Joyce himself, his intention was to ?write a chapter of the

moral history of [his] country and [he] chose Dublin for the scene because the

city seemed to [b]e the centre of paralysis? (Friedrich 166). True to his

goal, each of the fifteen stories are tales of disappointment, darkness,

captivity, frustration, and flaw. The book is divided into four sections:

childhood, adolescence, maturity, and public life (Levin 159). The structure of

the book shows that gradually, citizens become trapped in Dublin society (Stone

140). The stories portray Joyce?s feeling that Dublin is the epitome of

paralysis and all of the citizens are victims (Levin 159). Although each story

from Dubliners is a unique and separate depiction, they all have similarities

with each other. In addition, because the first three stories ? The Sisters,

An Encounter, and Araby parallel each other in many ways, they can be seen as a

set in and of themselves. The purpose of this essay is to explore one particular

similarity in order to prove that the childhood stories can be seen as specific

section of Dubliners. By examining the characters of Father Flynn in The

Sisters, Father Butler in An Encounter, and Mangan?s sister in Araby, I will

demonstrate that the idea of being held captive by religion is felt by the

protagonist of each story. In this paper, I argue that because religion played

such a significant role in the lives of the middle class, it was something that

many citizens felt was suffocating and from which it was impossible to get away.

Each of the three childhood stories uses religion to keep the protagonist

captive. In The Sisters, Father Flynn plays an important role in making the

narrator feel like a prisoner. Mr. Cotter?s comment that ?? a young lad

[should] run about and play with young lads of his own age?? suggests that

the narrator has spent a great deal of time with the priest. Even in death, the

boy can not free himself from the presence of Father Flynn (Stone 169) as is

illustrated in the following passage: ?But the grey face still followed me. It

murmured; and I understood that it desired to confess something. I felt my soul

receding into some pleasant and vicious region; and there again I found it

waiting for me?. The boy feels the need to get away from the priest, but this

proves to be impossible. When he ran away into his ?pleasant and vicious

region?, the priest was still there?haunting him. In fact, even before the

narrator is thoroughly convinced that the priest is dead, he is worried that

Father Flynn will haunt him (Stone 169): ?In the dark of my room I imagined

that I saw again the heavy grey face of the paralytic. I drew the blankets over

my head and tried to think of Christmas?. These passages convey the idea that

the boy was afraid of the priest and felt somewhat freed by his death. This is

further proven when the boy, after having seen the card announcing the death of

the priest, thinks it ?strange that neither [he] nor the day seemed in a

mourning mood and [he] even felt annoyed at discovering in [him]self a sensation

of freedom as if [he] had been freed from something by [Father Flynn?s]

death?. This feeling of freedom suggests that the boy understood that he was a

captive of Father Flynn, and thereby, also a captive of the church. With the

Father?s death, perhaps the death of his captivity came as well. The idea of

religious bondage can be seen in An Encounter by examining the relationship

between the boys and Father Butler. When Leo Dillion is caught reading The

Apache Chief in class, ?everyone?s heart palpitated? as Father Butler

frowns and looks over the pages. Shortly thereafter, the narrator claims that

?[t]his rebuke?paled much of the glory of the Wild West?But when the

restraining influence of school was at a distance [he] began to hunger again for

wild sensations??. This passage demonstrates the control the church has over

the opinions and thoughts of the narrator. In addition, if Father Butler is

considered a symbol of the church, the fear felt by the students at the prospect

of his disapproval and the freedom they feel when the ?restraining

influence? of the church was at a distance prove the suffocating nature of

religion. It is from this stifling existence that the narrator yearns to escape.

This is further illustrated when Leo Dillion doesn?t appear for the ditch day

because he worries that they ?might meet Father Butler or someone out of the

college?. Even though Father Butler?s influence on the boy?s thoughts

dwindles when school lets out, he is always in their minds. His presence in

their thoughts, especially at time when they are planning an activity for which

they could be punished, is a parallel to the feeling of a sinner who worries

what God?s punishment will be. These passages prove captivity because the

purpose of ditching class was to escape the rigid and stifling world and to find

excitement in the unknown. However, even in the midst of the possibility of

freedom, the boys can?t help but think of what would happen if Father Butler

found them. In Araby, although there is no clergyman, the theme of religious

captivity is still present in Mangan?s sister, who is a symbol of the Virgin

Mary. Just as a statue of the Madonna is lit from behind, on a pedestal, and

defined in shadow, Mangan?s sister is lit from a lamp behind a half-opened

door, while she waits on the steps for her brother to come inside, in the

shadows of dusk. Just like the Virgin Mary, Mangan?s sister is worshiped by

the narrator and therein lies the prison. ?Her image accompanied me even in

places the most hostile to romance?. The protagonist in Araby is obsessed with

Mangan?s sister and can not escape seeing her image everywhere he goes. This

is further illustrated in the following passage: ?I chafed against the work of

school. At night in my bedroom and by day in the classroom her image came

between me and the page I strove to read?. In addition the religious imagery

conjured by Mangan?s sister, the bazaar itself is also a religious symbol.

This is shown in the following excerpt from Harry Stone?s explanation of

symbolism in Araby: The interior of the building is like a church. The great

central hall, circled at half its height by a gallery, contains dark stalls, dim

lights, and curtained, jar-flanked sanctuaries. Joyce wants us to regard this

temple as a place of worship (Stone 175). In fact, even the narrator proves to

understand the religious symbolism when he says ?I recognized a silence like

that which pervades a church after a service?. The narrator?s trip to the

bazaar is journey, but even here he can not escape the images of religion. Even

here he can not escape the image of the Virgin Mary. He sees a young saleslady

standing at a door of one of the stalls, flirting with two men. This is

paralleled by the image of Mangan?s sister standing in her doorway flirting

with the narrator. When he realizes the parallelism, he experiences an epiphany.

His worshiped angel is only a girl, just like the ordinary girl who stands

before him now (Stone 175). When he realizes how he has been deceiving himself,

his ?eyes burned with anguish and anger?. When the boy realizes the hold the

church has had on him, he feels enraged and disgusted. Religious imagery and the

use of religion as a captor from which the protagonists yearn to escape can be

seen in each of the first three stories of Dubliners. Just as Father Flynn

haunts the boy in The Sisters, and the boys in An Encounter can not escape the

presence of Father Butler, the protagonist of Araby is obsessed with Mangan?s

sister and can not escape seeing her image everywhere he goes. All three

characters are haunted and all three desire freedom. In The Sisters, this

feeling is articulated in the protagonist?s feeling of freedom that came with

the death of Father Flynn. In An Encounter, it is expressed with his desire to

?break out of the weariness of school-life for one day at least?. In Araby,

this craving for freedom is not realized until the narrator?s epiphany when he

finally understands the hold the church has had on him. Because the three

stories use religion as a prison, they can be seen as a set.

Friedrich, Gerhard. ?The Perspective of Joyce?s ?Dubliners?.?

Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism: Volume 35. Ed. Paula Kepos. Detroit: Gale

Research Inc., 1990. 166-169. Levin, Harry. ?James Joyce: A Critical

Introduction.? Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism: Volume 35. Ed. Paula

Kepos. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1990. 159-164. Stone, Harry. ? ?Araby?

and the Writings of James Joyce.? Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism: Volume

35. Ed. Paula Kepos. Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1990. 171-177.